Mokpo National Maritime University has completed sea trials of an autonomous vessel navigation system incorporating its own hydrographic information model and an artificial intelligence (AI)-based autonomous navigation system, AI Captain.
The trials took place aboard the university’s training vessel Segero, as part of a national research project to develop standardised hydrographic information for smart ships.
The research aims to develop hydrographic data models for autonomous vessels and verify their integration with Samsung Heavy Industries’ autonomous ship system (SAS), assessing their suitability for use aboard commercially operated autonomous vessels.
The university’s research team first tested data generated by its models through the use of Kongsberg simulator systems, establishing whether the information could be used by AI Captain to determine routes and identify navigable areas.
Subsequent sea trials confirmed that the hydrographic information was received and updated during actual navigation, with the system and associated equipment operating as expected.
The models include dynamic overhead clearance (DOHC), which determines whether a vessel can safely pass beneath bridges; navigation aid turning radii, indicating the areas within which buoys may move; and a combined sea state and weather index that assesses navigational risks based on environmental conditions.
A further model provides maritime traffic density and flow information, identifying areas of concentrated vessel movements and their direction of travel.
The university says that its DOHC model is currently being developed for inclusion in the International Hydrographic Organization’s (IHO) S-129 standard.
